Highly Anticipated Films of 2014 (At the Movies with Daily Lukey)

Welcome back to another post where we look at some more highly anticipated films that 2014 has to offer. To view any of the other posts in this segment just search through the archive to the right, the first post in this series was from January 23, 2014.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The second installment in this highly-anticipated franchise sees Peter Parker at a busy point in his life. Between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen Stacy, high school graduation could not come quickly enough. Peter has not forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen's father to protect her by staying away, but that's a promise he just can not keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro, emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn, returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m8829/the-amazing-spider-man-2/

The Maze Runner

Source: http://www.hypable.com/2013/07/01/the-maze-runner-movie-launches-official-twitter-tumblr-and-facebook/

The Maze Runner is based on the first novel of The Maze Runner trilogy written by James Dashner. When Thomas wakes up trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys, he has no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organisation known as W.C.K.D. Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m6784/the-maze-runner/

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1

Source: https://www.facebook.com/TheHungerGamesMovie

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice, but even though she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. President Snow makes it clear that no one is safe either -- not Katniss' family, not her friends and not the people of District 12. The first of the two-part finale in this trilogy is set to yet again be the talk of the town during its release.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m9160/mockingjay/

The Giver

Source: http://www.movieinsider.com/m1036/the-giver/

In a perfect world where there is no conflict, racism or sickness, every member of society has a specific role, and 16-year-old Jonas is selected to be the Receiver of Memories. As Jonas uncovers the truth behind his world's past, he discovers that many years earlier his forefathers gave up humanity in order to have a stable society. The Giver is based on the acclaimed book by Lois Lowry and features a star-studded cast including Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes and Taylor Swift.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m1036/the-giver/

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The sequel to the surprisingly successful How to Train Your Dragon sees the heroic Viking Hiccup and his faithful dragon Toothless having to protect the peace and save the future of men and dragons from the power-hungry Drago. The second installment in this trilogy is hoped to be as successful as its predecessor.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m7367/how-to-train-your-dragon-2/

See you next week for your guide on the highly anticipated films of 2014. See you tomorrow.

What? (Weird News Tuesday)

Welcome back to yet another Weird News Tuesday! For those of you who do not know, Weird News Tuesday is a weekly segment where I go through a news site and find some of the weird things that have been making news. Sometimes it is the stories that are weird and other times the weird part is how the story became news-worthy. Each week I use a different news site and this week I am using yet another British news site (what is up with all this weird British news?); Metro. We begin with one very bad attempt at subtlety in a photo bomb. The only difference from most other photo-bombs is that the photo-bomber was not actually human. This elephant (see picture below) is not the first popular animal photo-bomber and he definitely will not be the last. You can click here to see more photos of hilarious animal photo-bombers.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/27/say-cheese-elephant-stakes-a-claim-for-least-subtle-photobomb-ever-4279695/

Next we have a news reporter making a live broadcast from a zoo when a lion sneaks up on her and jumps on the gate. Needless to say, the reporter was scared but the funnier part was seeing the lion clearly walk towards the gate knowing what it was going to do. That was one smart (and comedic) lion which would have provided for quite some entertainment on that channel. We all know how protective some people are over their money and how money can make some people really stupid. One lady from Germany made that mistake after flushing 330,000 pounds (over AU$569,000) down the toilet in a drunken rage. The lady was 63 and her husband had passed away in a care home. When the care home found out that she had come into money they sent the old lady the bill for her husband's medical care. The lady opened the letter after a few glasses of champagne and then tore up the money and flushed it down the toilet. After a court case into the incident, the lady was charged 3,300 pounds (over AU$6260) over the incident as the court heard that the lady may have made up the story to avoid paying the bills but it would be "hard to prove". An idiot of a man in Kansas (United States) ran back into his burning home to save his Xbox console. Fire officials say that the man was lucky to have only suffered from smoke inhalation with over AU$91000 damage caused by the fire. I think it is worrying that of all the things he could have saved (photos, memorabilia) he chose an item that could easily be replaced (though without the memory stored on that hard-drive). Over the years, people have proposed to each other in a variety of ways. However, one man used a fake arrest in his proposal. Funny, last week there was a story about a proposal as well except that one was between actors in a live performance of Peter Pan. You can view this proposal by clicking here. A nursing home has become very creative when making a calendar. Residents recreated some iconic movie scenes including the scene from Titanic where Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet are leaning over the end of the Titanic. It is all very creative and you can view all the photos here. A 14 year old girl got a surprise when she was about to bite into her blueberry muffin and realised that it was the spitting image of her dog. Obviously I am talking about the top of the muffin otherwise that is one seriously deformed dog. There is a picture of it which you can view below and it actually does look like her dog. The girl lost her appetite and her family froze the muffin and are looking for potential buyers. So far they have had no interest in it but knowing what some people are into, there is bound to be someone out there who wants it.

Source: http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/24/teen-discovers-blueberry-muffin-that-looks-just-like-her-pet-chihuahua-and-tries-to-sell-it-4275745/

There definitely were some weird stories today, I will try and find a non-British site with a weird news section next week. See you tomorrow!

The Great Firewall of China

Last year we spent a whole Semester in Humanities on a research project where we then had to write a report that had something to do with social change. For my topic, I chose The Great Firewall of China. My full bibliography of sources is at the end of this report.

The Digital Wall of Oppression

Source: http://digital4th.org/

Introduction to the Great Firewall of China

The Great Firewall of China, as it is commonly known, became operational in November 2003 after designs began in 1998. It is officially known as the Golden Shield Project and the original creation came to a cost of $800 million[1] with an update built between 2006 and 2008 with an unknown cost. It restricts web traffic and censors the Chinese public’s ability to access foreign media. It was constructed by the Communist Party of China and is run by China’s Ministry of Public Security and a staff of 30,000 monitor China’s internet[2]. The majority of sites that are blocked discuss freedom of speech, democracy, religion, pornography and those that are against the Chinese Government¹. It is a creation that greatly restricts the lives of people within and without of China and should be shut down. However, it is not that simple.

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[1] Conaway, S. n.d. The Great Firewall: How China Polices Internet Traffic - Certification Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.certmag.com/read.php?in=3906 [Accessed: 15 Jul 2013].

[2] International IT College of Sweden. 2012. The Great Firewall of China. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp-ir1ugS7Q [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

Restriction of Freedom

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an international document, published by the United Nations, that states basic rights and fundamental freedoms to which all human beings are entitled. It is not a legally binding document however, so countries are not legally obliged to follow it[1]. It is rather a moral document. This, however, does not mean that countries should be able to treat their citizens however they want and restrict their access to freedom of speech and foreign media. The following are articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the Great Firewall is disregarding.

            “Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”

            “Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom

                        to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas

                        through any media and regardless of frontiers”

            “Article 28: Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms

                        set forth in this declaration can be fully realized.”[2]

There is no greater loss of liberty than freedom of opinion and expression (see articles 3 and 19) which is something the Chinese people have grown accustomed to. There is no access to sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in China anymore and the local sites within China that have taken their place are heavily monitored. There are even heavy fines for “illegal activities” on the internet including “defaming Government agencies … splitting the nation… [and] leaking state secrets.”[3] Between 2000 and 2001, Wang Xiaoning anonymously posted journals in a Yahoo discussion board calling for democratic reform and an end to single party rule. He was consequentially arrested in 2002 and Yahoo provided information to identify him in 2003. He was sent to prison for ten years charged with “subversion”[4]. Subversion is an attempt to overthrow or, in this case, undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly within. Yahoo was successfully sued by the World Organisation of Human Rights for releasing this information⁴. There are many other journalists, writers and bloggers in Chinese prisons on similar charges and there are more who dare not say anything for fear of facing these charges[5]. Their freedom of opinion and expression has been literally scared out of them.

“Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home

                        or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour, and reputation. Everyone has the right to

                        the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

“Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom

                        to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas

                        through any media and regardless of frontiers”

Interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence does not come more arbitrary than the Great Firewall of China. In an effort to maintain a single-party state the Firewall was created so people did not have a platform to express their opinions about the Chinese government. According to some reports, the creation of the Great Firewall was the Communist Party’s direct response to the creation of the China Democracy Party which was founded in 1998 and outlawed the same year[6]. 1998 also happens to be the year design of the Great Firewall began. The Chinese Government uses everything from URL filtering (filtering sites based on text in the web address) to inspecting and filtering individual packets of data. A team of over 30,000 work around the clock to ensure that information from within China is not getting out and that other information is not coming in. Even domestic messages are not free from the scrutinising eyes of the internet police. People are too afraid to share their opinions online anymore, even in messages, due to this fear of being arrested. There is no greater interference than this.

The Firewall also works as a trade barrier by restricting access of foreign companies (like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) from gaining a foothold within the Chinese economy. There are also companies within China struggling to maintain an international business when international communication is restricted. This is bad for people outside of China as well because if companies are unable to reach the second largest economy in the world[7] (in terms of gross domestic product) how are they going to be able to afford constantly rising costs? They will be forced to pass on these price-rises to the consumers and we will all feel the effects of China’s firewall. However, it can be argued as not violating World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules as it does not explicitly forbid censorship and Article XIV states that nothing stops member states from adopting measures to “protect public morals or to maintain public order.” This is where the issue comes from, whether or not the firewall is doing this or not. In some ways it is through the blocking of pornography and protest information while it also works in the Chinese Government’s favour by not allowing information to leave, or enter, China that could be harmful to the way they run the country and the people they control.

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[1] Humanrights.gov.au. n.d. What is the Universal Declaration on Human Rights? | Australian Human Rights Commission. [online] Available at: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/what-universal-declaration-human-rights [Accessed: 7 Oct 2013].

[2] The United Nations. n.d. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [online] Available at: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [Accessed: 29 Jul 2013].

[3] Conaway, S. n.d. The Great Firewall: How China Polices Internet Traffic - Certification Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.certmag.com/read.php?in=3906 [Accessed: 15 Jul 2013].

[4] International IT College of Sweden. 2012. The Great Firewall of China. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp-ir1ugS7Q [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

[5] TED Talks. 2012. Michael Anti: Behind The Great Firewall of China. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrcaHGqTqHk&feature=endscreen [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

[6] Conaway, S. n.d. The Great Firewall: How China Polices Internet Traffic - Certification Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.certmag.com/read.php?in=3906 [Accessed: 15 Jul 2013].

[7] Bergmann, A. 2013. The new global economy. [online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/ [Accessed: 7 Oct 2013].

Complications

Despite all this it is not as simple as just shutting down the firewall for a variety of reasons. Mainly you have the 30,000 workers in Beijing who monitor the internet. A contingency plan would need to be put in place to ensure that thirty-thousand people are not going to be suddenly unemployed. Perhaps these people could work on integrating the Chinese internet back into foreign media or in other areas of the justice system such as reviewing the cases of people imprisoned on internet-related charges. You also have to take into account the local companies that have flourished in the absence of foreign competitors. Sites such as Baidu (Chinese Google), Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter), RenRen (Chinese Facebook) and YouKu.com (Chinese YouTube) have being able to work well in such an economy. They would, however, greatly suffer if the firewall were to simply be shut down. They would have foreign competitors who do not have to worry about waiting for posting approvals. These local sites would have to be completely recreated to fit the international standard. This is, again, another possible avenue of employment for the 30,000 internet police. However, by the time these changes have been made people will have already moved over to Facebook and YouTube. The best option for these companies would be to simply be bought out by the foreign companies or otherwise be forced to shut down due to the loss of users. Therefore, shutting down the Great Firewall is not as simple as just shutting it down. Plans have to be made for the companies and people impacted by this major change.

Conclusion

The Great Firewall of China is a creation that has caused a moral dilemma for anyone planning on shutting it down. The dilemma comes from risking the fall of China’s economy and, consequentially, risking other economies around the world or greatly improving the rights of the Chinese population. It all comes down to the economy versus human rights and which is more important. Simply shutting down the firewall would cause a lot of China’s major companies to fall in favour of larger, international corporations and this would have a bad impact on their economy.  However, maintaining the wall at its current state is unacceptable as it infringes on the basic human rights of the Chinese people. The country’s economy may be great but the rights of the country’s people are not. This is where the issue of the economy versus human rights stems from. Shutting down the firewall will need to be a lengthy process that should take place slowly over several years. The Chinese economy and companies will need to be slowly integrated with others around the world so that when the firewall ultimately does shut down it will not have as large an impact on the Chinese economy. Losses, however, are inevitable but can be kept to a minimum with careful planning. The Great Firewall of China should be shut down but it must also be acknowledged that this will not be a simple process and it will need to take place over several years rather than a few days.

Bibliography

ABC. 2008. The Great Firewall of China. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWsXhNJFj78 [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

           

ABC. 2010. Great Firewall of China (HUNGRY BEAST). [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfUOG0EA9w [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

Bergmann, A. 2013. The new global economy. [online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/ [Accessed: 7 Oct 2013].

Colour Box. 2012. Abstract Blue Technology Background. [image online] Available at: http://www.colourbox.com/vector/abstract-blue-technology-background-vector-3110535 [Accessed: 7 Oct 2013].

Conaway, S. n.d. The Great Firewall: How China Polices Internet Traffic - Certification Magazine. [online] Available at: http://www.certmag.com/read.php?in=3906 [Accessed: 15 Jul 2013].

Council on Foreign Relations. 1997. Media Censorship in China. [online] Available at: http://www.cfr.org/china/media-censorship-china/p11515 [Accessed: 21 Aug 2013].

English.cpc.people.com.cn. n.d.. Communist Party of China CPC--People's Daily Online. [online] Available at: http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/index.html [Accessed: 21 Aug 2013].

Greatfirewallofchina.org. n.d.. Great Firewall of China. [online] Available at: http://greatfirewallofchina.org/ [Accessed: 21 Aug 2013].

Hoffman, C. HTG Explains: How the Great Firewall of China Works. [online] Available at: http://www.howtogeek.com/162092/htg-explains-how-the-great-firewall-of-china-works/ [Accessed: 12 Aug 2013].

Humanrights.gov.au. n.d. What is the Universal Declaration on Human Rights? | Australian Human Rights Commission. [online] Available at: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/what-universal-declaration-human-rights [Accessed: 7 Oct 2013].

Indexmundi.com. n.d. China Government type - Government. [online] Available at: http://www.indexmundi.com/china/government_type.html [Accessed: 3 Oct 2013].

Infoplease.com. n.d. China: Government | Infoplease.com. [online] Available at: http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/china-government.html [Accessed: 1 Oct 2013].

International IT College of Sweden. 2012. The Great Firewall of China. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp-ir1ugS7Q [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

Security Affairs. 2011. The business of Censorship. Golden Shield Project, but not only ... - Security Affairs. [online] Available at: http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/204/cyber-crime/business-of-censorship-golden-shield-project-but-not-only.html [Accessed: 21 Aug 2013].

Seidenberg, S. 2010. The Great Firewall of China: When Does Online Censorship Violate WTO Rules? | Intellectual Property Watch. [online] Available at: http://www.ip-watch.org/2010/07/28/the-great-firewall-of-china-when-does-online-censorship-violate-wto-rules/ [Accessed: 29 Jul 2013].

TED Talks. 2012. Michael Anti: Behind The Great Firewall of China. [video online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrcaHGqTqHk&feature=endscreen [Accessed: 9 Sep 2013].

The Economist. 2013. The art of concealment. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21574631-chinese-screening-online-material-abroad-becoming-ever-more-sophisticated [Accessed: 12 Aug 2013].

The United Nations. n.d. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [online] Available at: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [Accessed: 29 Jul 2013].

See you tomorrow.

Top Moments of Modern Doctor Who Part 10

Welcome to yet another Doctor Who Sunday post. Also, happy Australia Day! Let's get started right away for a change.

46. The Doctor and Craig in The Lodger

This episode saw one of the funniest pairings in Doctor Who since Donna and the Doctor. Yes, the Doctor moves in with Craig in order to solve a mystery in the room above. In this episode the Doctor does many things. He plays soccer, fills in for Craig at his work (becomes more popular than Craig at his work) and sets up Craig with a friend who has always liked Craig and Craig has always liked her. It is a great pair and this episode should not be skipped over lightly.

47. The Last Centurion from The Big Bang

Source: http://grummelmaedchen.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/doctor-who-a-good-man-goes-to-war/

It really was romantic that the girl who waited, Amy Pond, fell in love with a man who would stand guard over her for 200 years. It was a match made in Doctor Who heaven, the boy who waited in love with the girl who waited. In this episode, Rory is forced to kill Amy Pond by forces beyond his control and in order to save her, Rory places her inside the Pandorica which has a regenerative light so that the thing trapped inside it can never die. He then waits 200 years to see her again. All the while protecting her from every danger. It is a very big act of romance that I doubt anyone other than Rory Williams could have pulled off.

48. Kazran Loves Abigail in A Christmas Carol

This episode sees a blatant rip off of a Charles Dickens' classic but we will let that slide because it was a great episode. In this episode we find a man, Kazran, with the power to save the lives of thousands of people on a spaceship yet he is so bitter that he decides not to. The Doctor than travels through his past to change him so that he will help them. Through this they find a girl, Abigail, who is frozen in a stasis pod which Kazran's father keeps. Each Christmas the Doctor takes Kazran and Abigail wherever they want and they have so many great adventures. Kazran inevitably falls in love with Abigail and he becomes a different person. However, when he finds what the countdown on the pods means he again turns nasty. It really is a great episode that you should watch. Bear in mind, that this is a fan-made cinematic trailer.

49. River Slaps the Doctor for Making her watch him Die in The Impossible Astronaut

This episode sees the Doctor inviting Amy, Rory and River to what is a seemingly nice get together. However, the Doctor knows that he is inviting them to see his death. After this, a very distraught River, Amy and Rory return to the diner where they were before and find another letter on a table. They then find out that the Doctor also invited himself to come at a later time to meet up. However, the Doctor (who is still alive) does not know this and so River slaps him for something he makes them watch in the future. It is a great slap.

50. The Silence from The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2011/08/what-is-the-oldest-question-in-the-universe.html

Steven Moffat struck gold again in the creation of this monster. The Silence are creatures who you can only remember when you look at them. As soon as you turn away, you forget all about them. They are the perfect monster because, for all we know, they could be real. Plus it is credible that they have been on Earth for a while. They also have the power of hypnotic suggestion. While you are looking at them, if they tell you to do something then as soon as you look away from them you will do it without knowing why. Of course, this also allows for the Doctor to reign victorious over them in the end of Day of the Moon but still, it is a great skill.

See more Doctor Who moments next Sunday. See you tomorrow!

Random Thought Saturday is Back

That's right, Random Thought Saturday is back after a month-long hiatus. It was so hard to not go in all these weird tangents in some of my posts so far this year and so I am glad that this segment is back to normal. Speaking of segments, have you all seen the two new segments that started this week? Every Wednesday is now "Entertainment Wednesday" with all things entertainment and every Thursday is now "At the Movies with Daily Lukey". I was smart enough to not put the day at the end of Thursday's segment so it is not as noticeable when I post it on a different day. Come to think of it, out of the seven days in the week there are only two days remaining without a segment on them. This will stay like that for a while (or at least until I come up with some new idea) but I think that I will always have at least one day where any type of post is possible. Plus, some of these segments I come up with as I am writing the post. Seriously, "At the Movies with Daily Lukey" started out as just a highly-anticipated films of 2014 series. That is why the Frozen review went on Entertainment Wednesday instead. If I had of known I may have chosen a different topic to write about. Anyway, I can find myself getting off topic now.

Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=4996

Tomorrow is Australia day and I would be writing about it tomorrow but it is Doctor Who Sunday and there is no way I am going to be able to write a whole post about Australia day anyway. Well I could but it would not be any good and who would want to read it? Besides, yesterday's post about the graffiti (and damage) done to Captain Cook's Cottage had a moment where I talked about Australia day. Still, what could I write about Australia day without coming off as weird or phony. Anyway, moving on from Australia day. There is just over two months until we fly out to Kokoda and there is still so much to do. We have started regular Tuesday and Thursday afternoon training sessions alongside our weekend hikes and other training as well as fundraising barbecues and events. It is definitely getting closer and more real by the day. It still has not fully hit me (but trust me, it has hit me a fair bit) what I am about to do. I guess I am just lucky that the others in the group are such a nice bunch of people. It would have been really bad if some of us did not get along. We are already going to do stuff we regret when we are tired, it would be a whole lot worse if there were people we did not like. Myself and the girl from my school who is going to have a joke about the amount of blackmail we are going to have on each other after the trip. Still, it is going to be a great and life-changing experience. Plus, in those surveys with "Your Greatest Achievement" sections I will be able to write about something really different and special. I also have to get on to writing some of the posts that are going to be scheduled to come out as I am away as well as some of the proceeding and preceding days to give myself a bit of a break. I think the majority of the posts are going to be about my experience leading up to Kokoda and then there are probably going to be several posts afterwards about my experience on the track. The annoying part is that I have a Piano exam when I come back from Kokoda. My teacher is going to try and get some of the later dates (the exam period for Grade 6 is April 28 to May 10 and I come back from Kokoda on April 25) so that I have time to rest up and get back into the practicing mode so I do not lose all my hard work right before the exam. You see, it is a bit difficult to practice the piano on the Kokoda track. Who would have thought? Moving on to some of the headlines of the week. Justin Bieber was arrested for driving under the influence and it just annoys me how, after all that he has done and been caught doing, people still stand up for him. I just can not believe all those "Beliebers" who stand up for him after all the things he has done. They even justify and down-play some of the stuff like drag racing. The best part is that they say the media is against him and yet as soon as they start reporting positive things the fans go crazy in support of the media. Seriously, some fan girls are just crazy. I am also excited because the new Hunger Games Mockingjay logo and poster was released. I used it in next week's "At the Movies with Daily Lukey" post about the highly anticipated films of 2014. If you missed it though, here it is again:

Source: https://www.facebook.com/TheHungerGamesMovie

I think that is enough random for one post, see you tomorrow!

Graffiti

Can we just pause for a moment and reflect on the idiotic act that is graffiti. Graffiti that is actually a nice artwork I can understand, I personally like Graffiti Lane in Melbourne. However, when graffiti is used just for the sake of vandalism and to be "cool" then I have a problem. This blog post was sparked after some horrible graffiti that vandals sprayed onto the iconic Captain Cook's Cottage in Melbourne which is a big thing in Melbourne as it is part of our cultural heritage. However, some idiots decided it would be fun to defile it and cover it in graffiti. You can see the photo below. It says "26th January Australia Shame!" There is a time and a place to protest but to do this to an Australian landmark is totally unacceptable.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/MelbourneMemes

What to they think gives them the right to do this? It is bad enough that they wrote on the wall but did they have to continue with the other coloured graffiti. The worst part is that the culprits are likely to never be found and be brought to justice. It really is despicable how they can do this and get away with it. To do it on any other brick wall is still bad, but this is an Australian icon and landmark which makes the crime a hundred times worse.. I feel sorry for the council workers who have to clean up someone else's mess. It really is very selfish. There are thousands of ways to protest about Australia Day but this should have never been an option. As I mentioned earlier, graffiti can also be appealing as it can  be very artistic. Sometimes, people even hire graffiti artists to liven up an area with an interesting mural or piece of art. The following is an example of good graffiti which does no harm and is actually appealing.

Source: http://ciuki.wordpress.com/category/centrum/page/3/

What I am trying to say is that graffiti has a time and a place. Captain Cook's Cottage should never be a place or a time yet a disused plain wall could use with some artistic graffiti. Though I emphasise the adjective; 'artistic' because just scribbling swear words is not artistic, no matter how much effort you put into it.

Just think before you act. See you tomorrow.

Highly Anticipated Films of 2014 (At the Movies with Daily Lukey)

Welcome to another new segment which is all about the movies. It is called "At the Movies with Daily Lukey" and will be a weekly post on a Thursday about anything movie related. Something I find myself doing from time to time is visiting the Village Cinemas' website and looking at the movies that are "coming soon". Today I went a little further for you all to find some of the most highly anticipated films of 2014. In no particular order, let us begin.

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/transformers-4-poster-dinobots-2013-9

Just when you thought that the franchise was over, a new movie appears. This one will not have Shia Lebouf in it and takes place after the conclusion of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Autobots and Decepticons have all but vanished from the face of the planet. However, a group of powerful, ingenious businessmen and scientists attempt to learn from past Transformer incursions and push the boundaries of technology beyond what they can control - all while an ancient, powerful Transformer menace sets Earth in his crosshairs. The epic adventure and battle between good and evil, freedom and slavery ensues. The cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Brenton Thwaites among many others.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m9598/transformers-4/

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The highly-anticipated second-installment in the Captain America franchise takes place after the cataclysmic events in New York with The Avengers. The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers (Captain America) living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy - the Winter Soldier.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m8659/captain-america-2/

Maleficent

Maleficent, just like Wicked, is the untold story of Disney's most iconic villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficant has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal that turns her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realises that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom - and perhaps to Maleficent's true happiness as well. This movie is set to be a big one with Angelina Jolie at the helm portraying the role of Maleficent.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m6876/maleficent/

Godzilla

The first remake of this iconic monster-movie for a while is set to draw a fear amount of attention when it is released. The film retells the origin of Godzilla in contemporary times as a "terrifying force of nature". The movie is also set to feature two new monsters alongside Godzilla and the plot is set to be more character-based than its predecessors. Godzilla is quite a risky movie venture and it will be interesting to see the iconic story set in modern times.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m7188/godzilla/

X-Men: Days of Future Past

The next installment in the seemingly unending X-Men franchise is set to be one of the big blockbusters of 2014. The story is partially set in an alternate future where surviving mutants have been penned in concentration camps, giant robots called Sentinels patrol America, and most of the X-Men have been hunted and killed. In the present day, the X-Men were forced to stop a key event from unfolding in order to keep that future from occurring. If the trailer is anything to go by (which sometimes it is not) then this next installment is set to be a great one.

Adapted From: http://www.movieinsider.com/m9168/x-men-days-of-future-past/

Come back next week for some more highly anticipated films of 2014. See you tomorrow!

Entertainment Wednesday: Frozen Review

Welcome to a new segment called Entertainment Wednesday. This segment is all about entertainment and content will range from reviews to discussions. Anything to do with entertainment is open for discussion in this segment. The first post in this new segment will be a review of the Disney animated film Frozen

Source: http://enmnetwork.com/disneys-frozen/

My Rating: 8/10

Trailer:



Synopsis: Walt Disney Animation Studios, the studio behind "Tangled" and "Wreck it Ralph", presents "Frozen", a stunning big-screen comedy adventure. Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) has a magical power to freeze things and create snow and icy creations. However, after she nearly kills her sister by accident she has to hide her powers from everyone including her sister, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell), whose memory of Elsa's magic has been completely wiped from her mind to save her life. Her parents try to protect her but they die when their ship sinks and Elsa and Anna are left alone (see "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" below). Elsa remains in control of her powers until her coronation ball where she accidentally lets some magic loose and shocks everyone. She then escapes to the mountains and creates an icy fortress for herself. In doing so, Elsa has unwittingly trapped the kingdom of Arandelle in an eternal Winter. Anna then sets off to find her sister and convince her to put an end to the winter. Along the way she receives help from an ice-seller named Kristoff (voiced by Jonathon Groff) and his trusty reindeer Sven. They also meet a snowman named Olaf (voiced by Josh Gad) who was brought to life through Elsa's magic. Together, this unlikely troupe must put an end to the eternal Winter, save Arandelle as well as Elsa.

Review: I went in to this film expecting nothing more than a Disney-animated "kid" film. However, I was surprised at the quality and the depth in story-telling that this movie presented. It had the right balance of heart, story and comedy which made for an enjoyable experience. It also had a wide repertoire of hard-hitting and catchy songs. The highlights being "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and "Let it Go" (a song being heralded as the new Defying Gravity and nominated for a Grammy for best original song). You can listen to both songs by scrolling down below. My favourite character would have to be Olaf, a snowman created by Elsa's magic who dreams of Summer and heat (blissfully unaware of what happens to snow under heat). He is also a big source of comedy and makes the movie so much more enjoyable. The story-telling is also very heart-felt and you do end up feeling for the character's of Elsa and Anna. If you are looking for a good movie to watch, this is one to seriously consider.

"Let it Go" sung by Idina Menzel as Elsa:



"Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" sung by Kristen Bell, Agatha Lee Mon and Katie Lopez as Anna (at various ages):




Frozen is one of Disney's best Christmas movies, see you tomorrow!

Weird News Tuesday: Telegraph Edition

Welcome back to yet another Weird News Tuesday. In this segment we look through the news to find some weird stories or news items that really should not be considered news but rather scraping the bottom of the metaphorical barrel. As you may have guessed, this week we are using the United Kingdom's own Telegraph news site. I have not done this site before, the Telegraph I did was the Australian Daily Telegraph (about the 4th Weird News Tuesday back in November 2013). Let us see what weird news that London can throw at us after the burst of weird British news last week. Do you know "Imagine" by John Lennon (it is a song)? Well, some creative people have recycled guns seized by Mexican drug cartels (so specific) and turned them into musical instruments to recreate this iconic John Lennon song. It may not be the best rendition of the song but it sure sends a good message. You can view the video by clicking here. A Japan airline has caused an online furore over a thirty-second commercial that has been labelled as racist. You can view the commercial by clicking here (and scrolling down). In it, two men dressed in the airline's uniform say some things that I did not quite catch the drift of (the commercial is in English) and then one says that they should change the image of Japan. It then cuts to the other man who is suddenly wearing a blonde wig and an elongated nose (which you can see in the picture below). I, personally, do not find the commercial overly-racist but then I did not really catch the drift of the first half.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/asia/japan/10583569/Japanese-airline-sorry-over-racist-commercial.html

Continuing on with the airline theme, Sixty-six flight attendants broke into dance in front of very surprised customers in Shanghai Pudong International Airport to celebrate the first day of the 40-day festival to celebrate the Chinese new year. In Mexico-City there is an annual pet-blessing ceremony that pet-owners attend to protect their pet from "danger and misfortune". It is a great way to bring the community together and I suppose in our new day and age it does not seem as weird but, you have to admit, this is just the tiniest bit strange. I am not even going to click on the article about why the knight is the best chess piece. Judging by the description, the argument is that it can get to any space on the board (but so can a lot of other pieces). I did not plan to spend any more than a sentence about this article but look what you have gone and made me do. Apparently it was a Peruvian artist's dream to paint underwater and very recently his dream was recognised. He was decked out in scuba diving gear and then went for a swim along the ocean floor painting the fish that swam by him. You can watch the video by clicking here. There are so many links in this post, I think it is a big problem guys. I think I should stop with the links for the rest of the post (a promise I am likely to keep for only a few more sentences). A family has four children who all have the same birthday (but born in different years). There is a three year age gap between the first and second-born and then a two year age gap between the second and the third-born. That would be one hell of a year when one turns 21, another 18, and the last 16. In other countries turning 16 is more of a bigger deal than it is in Australia (though some Australians do love to celebrate) so that is going to be one expensive day or, more likely, week. Researchers have found that a healthy dose of narcissism can do wonders for your career and that narcissists are more likely to find themselves in a position of prominence. However, they also found that too much narcissism once in that position can lead to problems. So that sort of evens out the playing field for the rest of us. Most of us know about the 'humble' pick-pocket and now some magicians and a reformed criminal are doing the opposite. In order to raise awareness for pick-pocketing they are slipping cards into people's pockets instead of taking anything (that we know of). That is actually a very smart campaign as generally people believe they will never fall victim to the pick-pockets of our world yet by spreading the awareness through pick-pocketing it is showing that it can affect everyone. I certainly approve of this. A heated political debate was disrupted when one of the politician's iPad ringtone went off playing Queen's hit, "Fat Bottomed Girls". That would have really interrupted the debate which was being aired on BBC. Do I hear a new viral video? Next comes a very touching video (see, I told you I would put a link in here somewhere) of a stage-actor performing as Peter Pan proposing to his real-life girlfriend who is playing Wendy. He interrupts the whole show and makes a big speech about it (all the while Wendy is freaking out) and how much he loves this girl. You can watch this touching proposal by clicking here.

That is all there is time for today, see you back next Tuesday for some more weird-news stories. See you tomorrow!

Doctor Who Sunday: Top Moments of the Modern Doctor Part 9

Welcome to yet another Doctor Who Sunday! This is the segment with all things Doctor Who! Currently we are going through what I deem to be the best moments of modern Doctor Who. Of course there are heaps that I have not mentioned (yet) and I may have even forgotten a few of the best moments so feel free to comment below your own favourites or send them through to legolukeytutorials@gmail.com where I read every email you send (as it is sent to my phone so I have no choice). Let's begin!

41. The Truth about Starship UK from The Beast Below

Source: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doctor-who/i437689-8/doctor-who-a-history-of-the-universe-in-100-objects-starship.html

Do you remember the famous quote "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" from A Few Good Men? That same thing can be said about Starship UK. When the world was burning due to the expansion of the Sun, the people on Earth fled to the stars on spaceships. This spaceship contains the whole of the United Kingdom (except for Scotland). Every person on board (except for some very few people in the control centre) believes that the ship is run by engines. However,  it is actually run by a space-whale which has the Starship UK attached to its back. Every 5 years, the people aboard Starship UK go to a voting booth individually. Here they watch a recording telling them the story of the Starship UK. After this they can vote to either "Protest" or "Forget". If 1% of the population select "Protest" than the program is stopped and the whale is set free. Even the Queen has chosen to "forget". There is a very emotional scene where the Queen watches a recording of herself telling the story of the Star Whale. When the world was burning and the children were crying this star whale came from above like a savior. On its back they built a ship to sail them away from their world. It is also revealed that this Star Whale is the last of its kind. It was very emotional as the Doctor had to decide whether to save millions of people and kill the last star whale or vice versa.

42. Scared Children from The Beast Below

Source: http://www.tvrage.com/DoctorWho_2005/episodes/1064899752/recap

This part of the episode sees Amy Pond, the Doctor's companion at that time, take a gamble that the space whale will stay to save the children. It is discovered that the Star Whale did not come to Earth all those years ago like a miracle, it came because it could not stand hearing children cry. It was a very poignant moment and the audience got a taste of the Amy Pond we would grow to love even more throughout the forthcoming episodes.

43. The Dreamlord from Amy's Choice

Toby Jones is great in this episode as he plays the Dreamlord who (SPOILER ALERT) turns out to be the Doctor's darker side brought out by psychic pollen in the TARDIS. In this dream brought on by the pollen, the Dreamlord creates two worlds with two very different dangers. Only one of the worlds is real (or so they are told) and they have to decide which world is the real one. Amy is also made in this episode to choose between the Doctor and Rory, hence the title Amy's Choice.

44. Amy can not Live Without Rory in Amy's Choice

After this scene, Amy decides that the real world is the one in the TARDIS as she can not bear to live in a world where Rory has died. Amy takes the van and kills herself and the Doctor by ramming it into her house. It is very emotional and one where we finally get to see who Amy loves more; Rory.

45. Vincent Hears of his Fame in Vincent and the Doctor

In this episode, Amy and the Doctor go to visit Van Gogh after discovering a monster in one of his works. They discover, and Amy is shocked, at how sad and dejected he is and how no one likes his works. This is the end of the episode where Amy and the Doctor take him to see a museum exhibit all about his artworks. The Doctor also allows him to overhear a conversation with one of the art historians and how he believes he is one of the greatest artists of all time. It is a very emotional scene.

We have reached the end of yet another Doctor Who Sunday, come back next week for more. See you tomorrow!

Another Busy Day

Seriously guys, you would think I would have time for longer posts but alas, not today. I do hope that tomorrow will bring another full-length Doctor Who Sunday post. Today was busy for a number of reasons. From 7am to 12pm I was training for Kokoda (group training session). After that I came home and had a shower and lunch before going driving (learners practice) followed by a long visit to Nana Vals. I was already tired from a long hard training session (which I know I am going to feel tomorrow) and this did not help. Luckily I could relax after all that so it was not too bad.

Hopefully tomorrow is better. See you tomorrow!

Hot and Tired

I am very sorry for the no-post-yesterday. As you may know, the past few days in Melbourne have all been very hot. This can sometimes lead to power-outages as well as physical exhaustion. Sandy has also been inside due to the extreme heat so finding some time to write these posts have been hard. I am looking forward to tomorrow though. I have training for Kokoda and tomorrow we are going to do sand dune training in Torquay. If we have time we will also cool down in the water. It should be fun.

Sorry for the recent spate of no posts. See you tomorrow!

Weird News Tuesday: Wednesday Edition

I would first like to apologise for the lack of post yesterday. This was due to a power-outage caused by the extreme heat conditions. I am very sorry for this. Great, now I sound like an emotionless robot. Anyway, on with the weird news! This segment, usually posted on a Tuesday, goes through different news sites to find some odd news or else news that really should not be considered news. Today, we are using the United Kingdom's news-site; The Mirror. First we have surgeons who amputated a student's foot and then reattach it to his left hand where he had lost a finger as a child. It does look weird but I am not posting the photo on my blog because I do not want that picture on my blog. It has a lot of blood. Anyway, how would you even explain that? Hi, my name is Luke. As a child I sort of lost a finger but, luckily, surgeons were able to attach one of my toes in its place. There is a funny video of a man falling through the roof of a shop and another man going about his shopping as though that sort of thing happened all the time. Seriously, who does that?

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cash-machine-spews-out-free-3022471

An ATM attracted a queue of over sixty people when word spread that the ATM had malfunctioned and begun giving out free money. I think it is more worrying than anything that word got to sixty people before it got to the owners of the ATM. Someone is definitely going to get into trouble over this debacle. A young ostrich in Kent disrupted traffic when it decided to race the cars driving past. Amazingly it reached speeds of up to forty kilometers an hour. A man bared his bottom on Reddit for the whole internet to see after a rare medical condition caused his buttocks to require surgery. This resulted in the loss of his bum cheeks so all there really is to see is a whole lot of back with what looks like a belly-button but is actually... well, you know. There is even more animal news today when a squirrel caused more than 7000 pounds (nearly AU$13,000) to the house of a mother-of-two (apparently this was important to the story somehow) when it was trapped inside. The mother thought the house had been robbed. A silly truck-driver has found himself stuck under the shelter of a petrol station after trying to pass through with a large load of hay. Sometimes you wonder if these guys even think. Apparently the driver appeared to be "shaken". I do not understand how this counts as 'weird' news but The Mirror thought that it did. A sex toy company has invented mobile phone controlled vibrating panties. This is big news apparently. A father's plan to hold an internet vote to name his new baby has backfired with names such as Slagathor and Megatron making the list. You know when people get the chance they are going to vote for those names. I bet the man's wife is very pleased with him right about now. Does anyone else hear the call for a divorce? Some Chinese students have created an 'ingenious' way of staying awake while studying. They use a home-made peg device attached to their hair so if they start to fall asleep they get yanked back into reality. It does sound pretty desperate but hey, you can not hate ingenuity. A pastor in the UK has condensed his whole service into ONE MINUTE just so he could watch the NFL game. I know some people would not be very happy but I would LOVE to go to that Church. I would probably only go to masses that he was hosting and only when there was an NFL game but hey, I could say that I go to Church a whole lot more often. Two lovers have ended their sex-romp in a whole lot of pain when the man fell from a tree right on to his presumably erect manhood. According to the story the poor man snapped his penis. I think all men everywhere would agree when I say ouch. Artist David Cata has sewn painfully accurate portraits (only of the head) of his family members on to his palms to reflect how they are sewn into his life. That must have been incredibly painful and would it not be so ironic if one day he had a big falling out with one of his family members? It is just as bad as, if not worse than, tattooing the name of a boyfriend/girlfriend onto your body. Finally, I wrap up this weeks Weird News Tuesday with China building a Titanic theme park with a life-size replica of the doomed ship simulating its sinking.

Hope you have had not too weird a week. See you tomorrow.

The New Look Daily Lukey

Welcome to the new look Daily Lukey! It thought it was about time that I changed the design of this blog so I decided that in the new year I would release the new look Daily Lukey. I really hope that you enjoy the new layout and below you will find a guide to where everything is!

This is the home page that you will be greeted with as you arrive at my blog. As you can see, there is a drop down menu at the top right of this page. You can access this drop-down menu by moving your mouse over the area. This allows you to choose some different ways of viewing the blog. Each of them is interesting in their own right and I suggest you have a play around to find the setting you have always wanted but never knew existed. Some of them also make it easier to find old posts that you can not remember the title of (making it hard to look up in the archives). However, in the top right corner you will also find a search box. Simply click on the box and type in what you want to search. Then touch 'enter' on the keyboard and away you go! You will also find all the old links to places like Facebook, Instagram and Xavier's Blog on the top bar as well, just next to the drop-down menu. If you look over to the middle-top-right part of the picture you will also see a black rectangle hovering on the side of the page. Simply highlight your cursor over any part of it and any of the following will appear;

This top button allows you to "+1" this blog on Google Plus

The next button allows you to view the top ten most-viewed posts on Daily Lukey

This allows you to watch YouTube videos without needing to leave my blog

This allows you to choose a language to translate the blog into. This way you can share a post in any language!

This allows you to access the blog archive

For all of these, all you need to do is click on the icon and you can access its feature.

You will also notice the new feature which allows you to "like" and "tweet" out your post at the click of a button! The "+1" feature to share on Google Plus is also still available as you can see. To add a comment, simply highlight your cursor over the bottom of the post and the "add a comment" section will appear. Just click on that and type in your comment!

Take some time to explore the new look Daily Lukey. See you tomorrow!